Natica (Tica) Bates Satterthwaite, 96, died peacefully of natural causes on Aug. 12, 2015. She was born in Boston, the daughter of Oric and Natica Inches Bates in 1919. Her birth on the first day of spring was prophetic of her lifelong devotion to the natural world of animals and plants.

After graduation from the Winsor School, she attended the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture for Women. At the beginning of World War II, she worked for the New England office of Dogs for Defense before joining and serving in the WAVES.

Following the war she attended Bryn Mawr, then transferred to Radcliffe from which she was graduated cum laude in 1951 with a major in politics. She was then called back into the WAVES during the Korean War, after which she worked for the Harvard Alumni Bulletin, Brandeis University, and Concord Academy where she taught English. Living in Cambridge, she enjoyed sculling on the Charles River and helped manage her mother’s farm in nearby Groton.

In 1961, on her birthday, she married James B. Satterthwaite, the chairman of the English Department and crew coach at Groton School, with whom she later moved to Maine in 1972. When Jim retired from teaching at North Yarmouth Academy, they dedicated themselves to developing their property, known as Tidebrook, from a barebones salt water farm with long water views into gardens, trails, woods, and fields, open to the public and protected forever from commercial development.

She knew every species of tree and flower on their land and every animal species that wandered through. Typically she expressed concern that nearby urban development was interfering with the natural migratory path of the deer. She kept a kennel of dogs that she trained to do therapy work at nursing homes.

She was cheerful and optimistic to the very end and as that end approached, she stated that she knew she was dying and that it was “okay.” Though she had in recent years become forgetful, her memory of the past was accurate and total. And her generosity of spirit never wavered. Just days before she died, she invited an old friend to go sailing, which they had enjoyed together some 40 years before. The only problem, she remembered, would be her friend’s family size since the boat would only sleep four.

Predeceased by her beloved husband Jim and her two brothers, Tica is survived by several nieces and nephews.

A funeral service and reception will be held Saturday, Sept. 26, at 1 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Brunswick. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Tidebrook Conservation Trust, 38 Bartol Island Road, Freeport, ME 04032, the trust established by Jim and Tica for the perpetual care of Tidebrook.